Happy Independence Day! Odds and Ends for July 4

Down to the Sea in Ships stars William Walcott and Clara Bow up above helping me to wish you a very Happy 4th of July!

Busy day for me on the third.

First the sad news of Andy Griffith's passing. He came along a little too late to appear on any of my old movie cards and collectibles, so I sat down figuring just to grab some screen captures from A Face in the Crowd (1957) and point you to some of the many other Andy Griffith obituaries that went up online yesterday.

I got that far and kept going. I couldn't resist writing a little about Griffith in A Face in the Crowd. Subscribers should see my Andy Griffith tribute below or, if not, just click here.

Then I had to prep my eBay listings. I had meant to list singles from the circa 1940 Wizard of Oz card game on Monday, but something, I don't even remember what, kept me from getting it done. Instead they launched to the site Tuesday night with all auctions ending next Tuesday night, July 10.

I was missing three cards and the ones I had have been played with pretty well, but as I noted in the listings I haven't had my hands on a Wizard of Oz card deck in about a year and a half now so I was happy to list them!

Average grade about VG or 4/10 to VG-EX or 4.5/10 with all minimum bids between $4.99-$6.99.

You can find those auctions HERE.

Then I sat down after the Yankee game Tuesday night determined to finish up my Marguerite Courtot biography. The final bit of work was watching Down to the Sea in Ships (1922) starring both Courtot and the man she would soon marry, Raymond McKee.

It's a great McKee film and as you're probably already aware a wonderful spotlight for a very young Clara Bow. But Marguerite Courtot, despite being top billed, didn't actually do too much in it. The movie deserves little more than a mention in any Courtot biography.

I didn't want to waste the experience of watching it so instead of going back to work on my Courtot biography I spent the wee hours writing about Down to the Sea in Ships. You'll find that new post either directly below or, if not, right HERE.

The sun is up so I'm about to sign off. But I didn't want to do so without steering you to Tuesday's work and taking the opportunity to use that screen capture up above to wish you a very happy and safe Independence Day.

Talk to you soon, Cliff